Veggie Tales
Posted by NakedChefLover on Aug 11, 2008 · Member since Jul 2008 · 5 posts
So my daughter, who is 3 yrs. old, loves vegetales. Lately, she has started watching me in the kitchen. She has started to freak out about eating vegetables because she is worriedwe are eating her friends from the show. I find it amusing, but, I try to calm her down and make her realize they are just cartoons. These are her favorite friends though. She has the toys too sso that makes them all more real. She won't even touch cucumbers anymore because she thinks it is LarryBoy. How do I get her to stop worrying? Has anyone else had this problem with thier kids? All advice is welcome, I can use all I can get.
Explain to her that it's like the characters on Star Trek or Dr. Who (whichever you have) that look human but aren't really (like say Klingons--OK so I only saw the old series with Wm Shatner.) That cucumber may LOOK like Larry Boy but it isn't. Just like chocolate bunnies aren't real bunnies and Easter eggs aren't real eggs.
OK so I can't think of a vegan example, but you catch my drift. A humanoid isn't a human, a cucumberoid isn't Larry Boy.
I have tried explaining it but have had no luck. You used chocolate bunnies as an example.. She won't eat those either.
This is one of the reasons I dont like veggie tales....I think it brings non living things to life and when you explain that its Ok to eat this cucumber, because its not real, the kids might use the same logic when eating a pig (porky pig isnt real either). does that make sense? Its just equating vegetables with animals or people by giving them a personality, and they are clearly different. Like those stupid omnis who say "how do you know its not hurting the carrot to eat it!?"
I know this doesnt answer your question, but its something that has always bugged me.
I also think animal crackers are marketed to kids to get them used to eating animals. My veg son once asked me "if we are vegetarian, why do we eat animal crackers?" He was 3 and I think actually being flippant, but still....
I also think animal crackers are marketed to kids to get them used to eating animals. My veg son once asked me "if we are vegetarian, why do we eat animal crackers?" He was 3 and I think actually being flippant, but still....
You think so? I never even had a problem eating them, and they're so tasty...but that's really horrible if it's true. Now that I think about it, it is kind of weird to eat cookies shaped like animals. No more animal crackers for me...
Did anyone else ever see those men shaped out of maple sugar around Christmas? I used to have a moderately hard time eating them, when I was quite young, but did it anyway, because, it's maple sugar, yum. The non-animal shapes are in much better taste, I think. Those evil meat lobbyists.
I'm not sure what I'd do. I'm not a fan of the show (well, I've never seen it but I don't really want to) but I love eating Veggie tales fruit snacks. They are the most delicious fruit snacks ever.
If you have a dog, you could have her play with the dog and then have her play with a stuffed dog. you could ask questions like, what are some differences between the dog and the stuffed dog? one makes noise, one doesnt, one moves around without anyones help, one doesnt, one licks you and shows affection, one doesnt. and then you could have her play with a dog and then a cucumber and compare the same way.
It sounds like you have a very compassionate and caring child. I would try to show her that the shows are in no way based in reality. Its animated, thus it doesn't look like outside. She plays pretend and make believe games and it is just like that. Someone very clever simply got their game of make believe into a cartoon.
If she stops eating cucumbers for a few years I don't see much harm. If she stops eating all veggies that would be bad. Maybe introduce a new show for her to enjoy.
I wouldn't rule out that she is engaging in "make-believe" - she likes the characters so much she likes to pretend they are there, and have mommy play along.
I remember when I was little telling a grown up, very convincingly, that there were very tiny real people in the TV. A lot of grown-ups think that kids think that - which I knew - and played on it as sort of a practical joke. All the time thinking "How could she possibly believe that I really believe that?"
Anyway, it may be more of a game she is playing than anything. Playing a counter-game might work (This is Bob the Tomato's evil enemy, Duke the Tomato - we can eat him! You could even make the "bad guys" be ones who are mean to animals!). Just a thought.
Good Idea, Anna!
RE: people in the TV, I have to admit that when I was small I did think that the singers were in the radio station live, singing. Maybe this was helped by the fact that it was the 60's and that we always had ancient TVs and radios, the kind with tubes that glowed in the back and the backs were made of cardboard-like plywood with air holes. I used to try to see inside the back of the radio, the glow fascinated me. It would be easy to fantasise a whole miniature world in there...a sort of Lilliputian Gotham.
Thanks for the advice everyone! ;)b I will try some of these methods and hopefully they will work. I don't like the idea of her not eating her veggies.